Criminal Justice News

Monday, May 28, 2012

Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

BUFFALO—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul,
Jr. announced today that Joseph Marble, 29, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded
guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to using a communication
facility to commit a controlled substance. The charge carries a maximum penalty
of four years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C.
Moscati, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was intercepted on
a telephone call, pursuant to a court-authorized wiretap, setting up an illegal
narcotics transaction.

Marble is one of 20 defendants who were
charged in May 2011 for their involvement in a multi-kilogram cocaine
distribution network between Buffalo, New York and Houston, Texas. He is the
second defendant to be convicted.

The plea is the culmination of an
investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Christopher M. Piehota; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the
direction of Wilbert L. Plummer; Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field
Division; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under
the direction of Resident Agent in Charge Frank Christiano.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 6,
2012 at 12:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Arcara.